The invention relates to slurry blasting equipment, and more particularly to a separator apparatus and method for removing broken and undersized glass beads and blasting debris from a blasting slurry on a continuous basis while blasting is in progress.
There has been no effective method of separating broken down and undersized glass beads from the useable beads while in a blasting slurry, such as is used in many cases for the surface treatment of materials such as metals. In a dry state, separation of non-useable from useable glass beads has been accomplished rather easily, but separation has been much difficult for a slurry mix of glass beads and liquid, which is normally water. Until the present invention described below, there simply was no known method of efficiently accomplishing such separation, particularly on a continuous basis for supporting a slurry blasting operation.
Other separating apparatus is well known. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 158,808, 1,704,115 and 4,012,316. Some of the prior art discloses classification apparatus including inclined screens, such as U.S. Pat. No. 1,410,340, which is directed to a device for washing and grading sand. U.S. Pat. No. 4,012,316 discloses an apparatus for wet classification of solid particles, including a pump for recirculating the fluid.
An article in the British Journal of Applied Physics, Volume III, October 1952, Page 311, entitled "Production and Separation of Small Glass Spheres", discloses a method for separating and classifying small glass bead, but the method is very different from the present invention described below.